Salomon SPK PRO = All mountain boot??

[PowTron]

I tried to search, and I must either be a total "re-tahhhd", or there is nothing on this "park" boot here.

Long story short, I have flintstone feet, and 99.9% of the boots on the market make my feet black and blue, and after about 2 seasons of fitting, I get them right. Well, I am on my third season in my Tecnicas, and now that they fit right for 4 days at the beginning of the season, the crappy liners are packed out and now they suck...:)

I have been looking at the UGLY, total Gnar-Steeze "park" boot, SPK PRO, from salomon. I hate how this boot leather crap looks, but god dammit does it fit well, which is important.

I have seen the GHOST boot for next season, which at first was appearing to be the answer to my problem...but of course, the lower is supposed to be a 98mm last, because as we all know, expert skiers only have narrow feet -- If you have E to EE width feet, you must just suck ;)

Any mags ski this two buckle pansy boot as their everyday boot? I am heavy, and I ski fast, but I already ski in 90 flex boot as my everyday-er now...

Just looking to see if anyone else had ridden these things all over, or are they just a park rat boot...

[mntlion]

fit might be right but I think at your size you will mush it out.

it's better to make a narrow and stiff boot wider then a wide and soft boot stiffer.

salomon impact 10 or pro?

lange fluid 120.

salomon mission?

[jetski]

I have done a few days with the SPK with a few different skis and well....
wanna buy some spks sz 26.5?
Background: I'm on my 9th pair of salomons as they fit me beautifully. (x-wave 10 currently)
I found it very hard to drive big skis and when I got back seat it would be a big struggle to try to get on top again.
Skis backwards very well and its an exceptional boot for sliding rails or hiking. Too much room upfront for my foot so jumping hurt a bit. All the padding/gel stuff works well enough that sometimes you can barely feel any chatter.

I would prefer even the foil as my " all mountain" boot over the spk.

I have tried the ghost on and it feels burly enough to be used all mountain. I may try those next year with a little boot work to make em right.

[Wasatch_Expat]

FWIW, I would never ski that boot just because I don't trust a two buckle boot to get the job done.

I have flintstone feet as well. Am currently trying to get a pair of Lange Fluid 100's to work (wishing I would have gone with the 120's though, as the 100's are a tad soft). Not sure it's the best fit, though, and thinking I may have been better off in a Head or possibly a Tecnica.

If you've already got a shell that fits but your liners are just packed out, just get an intuition. That's the direction I am leaning. As far as I know, you can still get the group buy deal available on gear swap. http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94461

[300hp]

I was filming one of our park rat sponsored riders this weekend. In a properly sized SPK, he was complaining about the toe box being too big. when he landed big hits his toes would jam into the top of the boot. Try a fluid 120 or a scratch BC and go from there. IMO, the 90 flexes softer than that. I used to have pro models, a supposive 95 flex, and they were more stout by a shot than any SPK boot.
good luck
Hunter

[mntlion]

basically this is a very well marketed, soft flexing, wide boot. I think for the fit/flex vs price you can find way better deals. (again mission by salomon etc)

[PowTron]

Thanks for the advice...I was thinking many of the same things, but this boot was like a slipper. For me, the toe box DOESN'T seem to big, but again, that is with all that crazy bench-dropping I was doing in the shop :)

I would love THIS boot fit with a 120 or 130 flex...someone get on making that for me :)

Thanks for the advice, I needed some mags to talk some sense into me.

[GapersGoHome]

Check out some of the heads or nordies... They've always fit my wide-ass feet the best... Currently in some speedmachines, which feel like my old beasts, with a noice, phat toe box.

SPKs = park = soft = no go.

[dirtybryan]

Get some intuitions maybe?

[Kroenen]

Have you looked at Atomic's boots? I have wide feet, a fairly high arch, and long big toes. Pretty much any boot made in France or Italy feels like it's designed for a different species. The Atomic M110 is a near perfect fit for me.

[PowTron]

Have you looked at Atomic's boots? I have wide feet, a fairly high arch, and long big toes. Pretty much any boot made in France or Italy feels like it's designed for a different species. The Atomic M110 is a near perfect fit for me.

I have actually been looking for this boot here in CO, but nobody has it...would like to try it on before I spend the $$$ :)

Otherwise, I did go try some speedmachine 12's on, and those are nice too...I need to forget all about this SPK boot...ick

[videoman333]

i have been looking all around how wide are the SPK Pro Model? It does not say on the salomon web page either on the ski shops web pages. Does any one know?

[mntlion]

104mm ish = wide to VERY wide

[videoman333]

My foot is 103mm and just ordered them so I hope they will fit well. I was trying to search for some reviews for these boots and I found at powdermag.com gear review section the spk pro model review, however my expectations were much higher then what I have seen their. First of all for the reputation of that mag, that cannot make mistakes such as 98mm width. That where I got confused how wide are these spk pro model boots wide, so I called Salomon and asked them, the best they did was saying they are more than 100mm but did not know how wide their own product is.

I believe that we can thank that these forums such as this exist.

P.S. if anyone knows any website that has good reviews on skis, boots etc and on Salomon SPK pro model please send me the link here

[advres]

You bought a ski boot you never tried on????

[ulty_guy]

i picked up a pair of these on the supercheap last week. i can't seem to get a pair of touring boots that take up the space over the top of my foot and my atomic race boots were just beating up my feet when bootpacking and sidecountry touring. i have very narrow feet and got into a 26 (normally 26.5 or 27). i just wanted a comfy pair of boots for when i'm not charging and these were on stupid cheap. on soft skis, the can carve and rail just fine. obviously for bumps and jumps these things are waaay more money than my super stiff race boots. i reckon the liner will packout over time and loosen up the fit, but for now it's tight enough for me and i like the upright stance. on bootpacks and skinning they were very heavy, but also very comfy with good grip. all in all, if you stand around a lot or just need something for screwing around (booting/cruising) these work just fine. the only caveat i would say is that you need to be a 'side to side' skier cause you'll never get anything out of them if you try and slam them forward.

[nwrider]

do you still have the spk 26.5?

[PowTron]

Very old thread bump...nice.

I ended up going with Speedmachines instead of the SPK, and I am very happy...until the crappy liner packed out and now it is too big. Time for some intuitions for me this year.

[spindrift]

Interesting bump. Pretty much my whole family is using SPK Kaos boots at this point. Not at all clear that traditional boot stiffness assumptions carry into reverse camber & full rocker land. That may well go double for soft rocker land.

[Caucasian Asian]

expert skiers only have narrow feet -- If you have E to EE width feet, you must just suck ;)


I must really suck then.

[ulty_guy]

An update on these...

So the pair I got a few years ago were thoroughly beat up and just too soft and packed out at this point. I found a pair of this seasons (upgraded from 90 to 110 flex which was a kicker for me too) on a decent discount so pulled the trigger.

It took a few runs to break them in, but I like the new 110 flex much better as you don't get that 'folding' effect when you really launch forward into them. Another plus is that they're better on groomers and ice, but take that with a grain of salt as my old ones really were beat to heck at this point.